Local Youth Chosen to be a National Youth Trainer

Congratulations to Lydia Heald for being selected to become a National Youth Leadership Initiative Trainer. Lydia lives in Keosauqua and will be a junior at Van Buren County High School this fall. Lydia has been a member of the Van Buren County Youth Leadership Council (YLC) for four years.

Lydia is a part of YLC because she has experienced first hand the affects that drug and alcohol abuse has on families. That has pushed her to become a bigger and better person. She feels that she is a role model in the community and by being a part of YLC she can show many young children how to push past all of the negative things and just focus on the positive things in their lives. Lydia decided to apply to be a CADCA Trainer because she not only wants to help people in her community, but she also wants to make an impact on people all across the world and CADCA can help her do that.

Lydia is very active in the community. She works as a waitress at Riverbend Pizza & Steak House and is a lifeguard and WSI swim instructor at the Riverview Country Club in Keosauqua. She is on the volleyball, softball, golf, basketball and color guard teams at Van Buren County High School. She participates in the YLC, Spanish Club, Science Club, ETC and Rachel’s Challenge as well. Her favorite subject in school is Science. She is also a member of the Leo Club in Keosauqua.

CADCA's National Youth Leadership Initiative (NYLI) is a component of the CADCA Institute's National Coalition Academy and, like the Academy, requires completion of an application process and acceptance prior to participation. Youth trained by CADCA are demonstrating that they are the leaders of today and for the future!

Lydia was selected as one of twenty youth from across the country to participate in this unique opportunity. They only select youth trainers once every 5 years from hundreds of applicants.

Lydia will travel to Nashville, Tennessee to begin her duties by attending a CADCA Training of Trainers from July 21-28, 2012. Once she has completed the training she will be equipped to teach youth from across the country how to effect change in their communities. Lydia has been successful in doing this locally with the Van Buren County Youth Leadership Council and will be a great addition to the CADCA – NYLI training team!